Animaniacs is owned by Warner Bros. I don't claim any of them as mine, same as with any other franchise I use in here, they're not mine either.


Back at the Warner Film Lot

The group had driven back to the admin building after Rick and Stan were dropped off at the tunnel to walk back home. Bradley looked nervous however. He may not be ready for the screaming that'd come their way after all of this "behind their back" stuff, but the Warners seemed unfazed like it was just another day.

"Wonder how short Plotz's fuse'll be this time." Bradley said, sighing softly and feeling apprehensive.

"Do you want us to back you up?" The suited feline said as he stepped out the van.

"Yeah, we got your back, your front, your sides, top and bottom, we got 'em all!" Wakko said with a bright smile with the rest of his sibs.

Bradley smiles at their response, nodding a bit. "I can tell." He said as he looked back at the building. "Here we go... We'll be right back, okay?" He said to Shannon and Mom.

Shannon nodded in response. "Yeah, we'll see. Dunno what you're so tense about though." She said as she leaned on the van.

"Oh you have no idea." Bradley said with a laugh as he headed inside the admin building with the Warners and their feline friend.

Soon they reached Plotz's door and opened it, with Bradley entering first. It looked like he didn't notice yet, but that'd soon change with an uttered "Hello?" from the human teen.

"So where is he?" Plotz said simply, sitting in his chair.

"Oh man, you've got to hear this story!" Wakko said as he zipped over to the CEO, sounding excited.

"Yeah, not even the 'Enquirer' would believe it enough to print it!" Yakko added. "Unless you gave them $20 and a handshake." He added in a quieter mumble to Bradley.

"Hoooo, this should be good then." Plotz said.

Bradley then launched into an explanation about what they did and what happened. He figured it'd be best to come clean and tell him everything, from bringing Shannon into Toontown during its lockdown to actually getting into a talk with Bendy about his side of the story. He did his best to explain and the Warners also did their best to support what he said via slideshow and pictures as well. Even though half of them were crude drawings.

Plotz meanwhile looked like he was getting madder and madder, his face redder as the explanation went on. All he could hear was that they let Bendy get away. That this could now easily repeat itself in the future. But then Bradley said this: "He said he was trying to find his friends and that, well... It didn't matter where or when he ended up. When he fell in, I don't know where that thing could've taken him."

"Indeed, that portal in the machine didn't have a set exit point. Then again, we knew almost nothing about it." The cat said based on what little they knew. "Wherever or whenever he is now, it's not here anymore."

"But it doesn't really matter now, does it? He's gone, and we'll probably never see him again!" Plotz screamed. "We'll never get a confession out of him now!"

"Well he confessed to me. He felt bad about it, but he did it cause of the whole 'being isolated' thing everyone else gave him." Bradley said, trying not to scream back. "He said it was cause he was scared they may end up the same way as him, left alone and junk! Besides, all the toons are back, right?" He added with a frown, sighing soon after.

The CEO grumbled and pinched the top of his nose between his fingers briefly. "Well I suppose you're right... Without that teamwork you pulled off with those Warner kids and your other friends, it wouldn't have been possible." Plotz finally admitted after walking to the window, looking down at the studio.

"See? Everyone wins!" Bradley said.

"Our favorite kinds of outcomes of course." Yakko said with a bright smile of his own, leaning on Bradley's side suddenly like he was leaning casually on a wall.

"But regardless, he hasn't answered for what he tried to do! He tried to sever our trust with the humans, he tried turning our town into a ghost of its former self! All because he was afraid?" Plotz shouted, feeling confused.

"Yeah." Bradley said simply. "Cause he was scared. Scared because he thought there would be another one like him. Scared those new toons would end up not getting any kind of future."

Plotz looked like he was getting redder and redder the more they talked about this. "You really believe we'd put our toons through that on purpose?"

"You did it to the Warners before they broke out on their own. They did it to Bendy until he took matters into his own hands." Bradley responded. At this point he didn't seem like he cared, crossing his arms.

"Those were- I-" Plotz stammered and looked between the Warner siblings and the human teen, letting out an angry scream a couple of seconds later before heading to his desk, seemingly cornered. The Warners looked worried, especially when they ended up being brought into the conversation. "There's methods to that kind of madness. Those brats were gonna jeopardize us and everyone agreed, and those toons with Bendy did it on their own."

Bradley conceded that the CEO, to an extent, was right. He knew the history of the Warner Brothers and Sister at least, locked in the tower for everyone's safety until recently. "I know, I know... But Bendy was driven to this cause no one gave him a chance. He said they kept not even looking at him. What's a toon to do to get noticed and get attention when just saying 'hi, how are ya' doesn't work?"

"He's got a point, we usually go bigger and bigger and bigger." Dot said, demonstrating with a visual pun with her growing in size each time she said "Bigger".

"We're bound to be seen eventually, we're just charming like that." Yakko said with a smile at the others.

"Call it a rarity if you want, all our toons get a purpose." Plotz said, a little calmer than last time. The cat simply huffed at that response, wanting to say something but holding back.

"So why not Bendy? He mentioned something about his original creator not being right." Bradley said with crossed arms. "Is that why?"

The cat nods and carried his cane under his arm. "Is that so?" He said with an interested hum. "I don't think I've heard of the name, the copy I have has that part scribbled and blacked out." He added. The Warners thought up a thought bubble back to when they were reading about Bendy in the cat's house. Sure enough, there was a crossed out part that likely held the creator's name while they were reading, the thought bubble disappearing soon after.

The CEO huffed. "For good reason. We don't talk about that, but the short story is yes." He said plainly. "That's all you need to know, trust me."

"Not exactly an award-winning story." Yakko said quietly to the human.

"But that still leaves the matter of bringing your other friend in while Toontown was locked down." Plotz said. "At this point, I'm not surprised you four would even consider it. But what was the point?"

Bradley was about to say something, then Wakko jumped in. "Cause they like each other!" He said happily, with his goofy smile and tongue out like usual.

Bradley rolled his eyes and chuckled, gently pushing him to the side. "As a friend, promise." He added. "I wanted to let her see what this place was like and all. And she defended me from those mad humans during that lockdown. After the first visit with giving her a tour around while looking for clues, I thought it'd be best, that's all."

"Hm." Plotz mumbled out as he walked to the window, seeing the rest of the humans along with the toon feline by the van. "Quite the growing group of friends you're getting. From that cat to your other human friends, along with who knows what on the human side."

"Yeah, I really wouldn't get this stuff done without them. It makes things easier with each new one, and it feels special too when I see them happy." Bradley said as he goes back to the three Warners, ruffling their heads.

"Ahp, mind the flower." Dot warned when the human got to her, definitely minding it.

"I couldn't agree more." The cat said with a smile of approval. "I can't imagine how this would've gone if I... Wasn't still around." He said, remembering how close he was to getting dipped last time.

Plotz meanwhile just shook his head. Seemed like this investigation had hit a standstill, but with the toons freed and Bendy gone, it might as well be closed. "Well I suppose that congratulations are still in order regardless." He said as he walked to the group. "Now that all of our toons are back in Toontown, those suits finally gone and that ink thing disappeared, we'll open up Toontown again to the humans. I just hope they understand when we tell them what really happened."

The Warners and Bradley cheered, giving each other high-fives as the human coughed and cleared his throat when his voice broke again mid-cheer. "Gah, dumb puberty." He said with a little laugh.

"I've got my eye on you about bringing new people in though." Plotz said as a warning.

"How many times did we tell you not to worry? We got six to keep on him!" Yakko said, all three coming in close and staring at the human teen.

"And that's what worries me the most." Plotz responded with a grumble.

"Pfft, right." Bradley said with a smirk as well. "It's fine, I'm just glad things turned out fine."

"You better, who knows what would've happened if this continued." The CEO said. "Now go on, I've got a lot of work to do." He added with a huff, pushing the four of them out and shutting the door.

"Well that went pretty well." Dot said with a smile.

"I wanted a treat though, that was a lot of work..." Wakko said with a little frown instead, rubbing his belly.

Soon they went back outside to meet the remaining of the waiting bunch. "So was he mad?" Shannon asked worriedly.

"Well as mad as a grumpy and old CEO is usually." Bradley responded to help reassure her.

"Yup, he only got to magenta on our 'Plotz Angry Scale'." Yakko said as he brought out a chart with several different colored bars, from normal to deep, seething red and all the shades in between.

"Indeed. Now that the loose ends are tightened, our work is finally finished." The feline said.

"I think so, we just gotta wait for Toontown to open those tunnels back up again for everyone." Bradley said as he looked in the direction of the original tunnel they entered through. "I don't wanna keep being the one to smuggle people in here." He added with crossed arms.

"Well let's hope not, you've done enough." Mom said as she rested her hand on his shoulder. "You've been through a lot in this time, haven't you?"

"No kidding." Bradley said with a smile at her, then the other, especially Shannon. "I hope I didn't worry or scare you too much."

"Oh it's fine. You were doing this stuff since 5th grade, I figured you knew what you were doing." Shannon said with a laugh.

"Most of it anyway." Bradley responded with a smile back.

"Aww, they're blooming!" Wakko said with a bright smile.

"Easy now Wakko." The feline said when Bradley looked over to them, rolling his eyes before looking back to his friend.

"So you don't mind staying friends with me then? Even with all this stuff that happened if you're not upset?" The teen boy said, a little worried she'd be rid of him after all that insanity.

"It was a bit scary, but not upsetting. I think we'll stay being good friends." Shannon said with a bright smile, holding out her hand.

Bradley reached as well and shook hands together. "Thanks. And who knows, maybe I'll take ya on more stuff like this."

Shannon crossed her arms. "Don't count on it." She said with a smirk. "At least not yet." Bradley understood with a light laugh, their adventure had been pretty hectic.

"Well, if everything's all done, I'll head back to my house. This was very entertaining until the end." The cat said with a smile, pulling out his toon hole and plopping it on the ground. "Come by more often Bradley, I enjoy our visits." He added before jumping in, heading back to his house.

"And I've got to get back home too. I've kept this a secret from my dad for too long, I stay any longer and he'll flip." Shannon said.

"I'll take you back then." Mom said as she got into the driver's seat. "Umm, can you turn my van back to normal too?" She asked the Warners.

"What's the magic woooooord?" Dot said in response.

"Is it please?" Mom said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well if you have to ask..." Yakko said, almost teasing her.

Bradley just snickered. "Oh you guys. And girl." He said, making sure to add the last part to appease Dot. Yakko brought out the remote and clicked the button on it, turning the tooned-up van back to normal.

"Thanks, I don't wanna be the talk of Burbank with that thing." Mom said as she closed the door, with Shannon climbing in shortly after.

"So I'll see you at school later?" Shannon called out as the van started.

"Yeah, definitely!" Bradley said with a happy voice, waving as the van soon pulled out and left towards the Toontown tunnel, with both humans waving good-bye to them.

At the Water Tower, 8 PM

Bradley watches the sun as he sat down at the railing outside the tower. The sun, now happy again, went down gradually as it said its good-nights to all the toons in Toontown. The human however, felt more unsure than ever. It seemed like the Warners knew it too, like they knew most things as they quietly bunched up right behind him, waiting for him to turn around. One tap on the shoulder made him do just that, as well as jump a bit in surprise when he saw them all so close. "What's up?" Bradley said with a laugh.

"You gonna be okay?" Wakko asked worriedly.

Bradley knew what he was talking about and hesitated. "I really don't know. Honestly, I'm not sure if Bendy's even still around after what happened." He said as he watched the sunset. "A part of me kinda wants to go look for him."

"Well what part do you have to spare?" Dot asked, looking around him to check.

"You can borrow ours if you want!" Yakko offered. "I got an ear that'll go looking for ya!" He added as he popped off one of them with a "click".

"I got me a spare foot!" Wakko said as he dug under his hat to get said foot, with a label on it saying "F#4272744".

"One of millions?" Bradley said with a smirk.

"Oh you have no idea how hectic a toon life is." Yakko said with a smile back. "We gotta have spare parts for everything. Arms, ears, nose hairs..."

"True." Bradley said with a shrug after some thought as he rested his arms on the railing after. "But nah, if he said he knew what he was doing, he has to live with it. I just wondered if he knew what he was getting into, he didn't want me to pull him back up." He added as he rested his head on his arms. "I just hope he'll be okay."

"Oh I'm sure he'll be fine, he was just looking for his friends!" Wakko said happily.

"You think so?" Bradley responded.

"Not really, I just thought that's what you say when you want to sound encouraging." Dot chimed in.

Bradley rolled his eyes with a smile. "Well I appreciate it at least." He said as they all looked at the sunset. "But hey, we still saved the town, made some new friends, kept that human and toon bond alive... I say this was pretty good. Who knows, maybe one day you'll be heroes too, at least in your own way."

"We could, but we already give out loads of autographs." Yakko said. "And since we cause a wreck of the city whenever we're out and about... Hey, maybe we are heroes after all."

Bradley couldn't help but snicker. "Too true." He said with a smile, sighing a little. "Either way, I'm glad things are back to normal. Nothing left to do but watch the sun set. And of course have the sun watch us back."

The Warners nodded in agreement and sat down around him, smiling with him as the toony sun gave a last wave before disappearing completely under the horizon. Toontown soon lit up shortly thereafter, the lights flashing around as the sky reddened and soon darkened. The Warners soon yawned and got up to walk back into the tower, and Bradley soon followed but stopped at the door. He turned around to look at the town, Bendy still on his mind.

"I hope you knew what you were doing, Bendy..." Bradley said to himself. "But I hope you find your friends. We'll all look forward to seeing you together again." He added with a smile on his face, feeling confident the inky devil-toon will do just that. With that, he walked inside and shut the tower door, knowing that tomorrow the town will be as full and fun as it was before with toons old and new.


Epilogue

So with Bendy supposedly beaten(according to the other toons and what they were told) and the suits having vanished into nothing but pure ink, Toontown was finally safe again. They were all given the full story with support from Bradley and his friends, human and toon, and they've apologized to the humans for assuming they've had anything to do with it. Any longer and they've probably would've stopped their cartoons airing in the real world as well, at least according to what Plotz told the others later, and that would've likely pushed things over the edge and made things irreparable.

Shannon remained Bradley's friend at school, always hanging out with him despite the Warners' teasing about them liking each other. Thankfully things haven't escalated too far yet, like pressuring them to kiss or anything like that. Afterwards, the other students at his school seemed to back off their attempted bullying of Bradley as well, even thanking him.

The rest of the town soon went back to being the zany and crazy place it always was once all the tension slowly ebbed away, with Rick and Stan even getting some props for their help too. They were even offered some side jobs for the summer to learn about the town itself. Rick was interested, but of course Stan needed some time to think about it. He was used to toons, but not THAT used to them.

However, that thought about where and maybe when Bendy ended up hadn't left Bradley's head for a long while, even after the others put it out of their minds. After a while of convincing from the Warners and his friends, he figured that maybe he really was okay. Maybe he really will find his friends again or be respected like other toons are. Only time will tell, depending on when and where Bendy took himself into.

In an unknown location

While that was going on however, something was stirring in a different abandoned studio. In a different room, while someone else was running around in the area exploring to try and repair an ink machine, it stirred and clicked once a switch was flipped. The last thing seen in the room was a pair of familiar devil horns popping up from the metal barrel full of ink.

He had arrived at last, he was home. But unfortunately, even though his plan had worked, he would never be the same.

END


Author's Note: Sorry this took so long, blame life again. But yes, the story is finally over!

I thought it was an interestingly different direction compared to the last ADGZ story, though I'm not sure I'd want to do it again, at least not right away. I think next time I'll go back to making future Animaniacs stories more like the fun show they're based off of opposed to this, should the inspiration rise up again. I think some time to recover from burnout would be best at this point.

But either way, I hope you liked this change-up! And happy 25th anniversary to Animaniacs as well!